BC Law Society suing prohibited Vernon lawyer

The BC Law Society is taking legal action against a former Vernon lawyer who it ordered to resign and prohibited from practicing for 10 years.

In December 2024 and again in February this year, the legal regulator found that Leonard Hil Marriott had committed professional misconduct and ordered him to resign from the Law Society by July 1. He was also barred from practicing for 10 years.

However, on Aug. 13, the BC Law Society filed a petition in the BC Supreme Court asking for an order to take over his practice and any assets it may hold.

“Despite several requests, Mr. Marriott has not provided the Law Society with documentation to evidence that he has resigned/renounced his fiduciary roles as required,” the court document read. “Mr. Marriott continues to hold trust funds in a solicitor’s trust account and it does not appear there is a practicing lawyer with signing authority on the account to properly deal with those funds.”

The legal regulator is also asking the court to bar Marriott from being the personal representative of a deceased person or a trustee of the estate.

Court documents said that the Law Society wants to become the custodian of Marriott’s law practice and to “take possession of or control over the property of the Law Practice… and to determine the status of, manage, arrange for the conduct of, and, if appropriate, terminate the Law Practice.”

Last December, the Law Society ordered Marriott to pay back $70,000 after he made multiple errors in what the regulator called his “sloppy” handling of a $1.2-million estate. It found that Marriott had failed to meet his professional obligations regarding many aspects of the will and had committed professional misconduct.

Two months later, the Law Society again found Marriott had committed professional misconduct after he “utterly failed” to complete legal paperwork for an elderly client and filed false information to the court.

The recent petition to the court said the Law Society is investigating his conduct in respect to a client, called MB in the court document, who he was appointed as power of attorney and executor in her will.

“From the said investigation and a review of various records, it appears that Mr. Marriott borrowed funds from MB, caused a 50% interest in MB’s residence to be transferred to Mr. Marriott and MB as joint tenants, which allowed a creditor of Mr. Marriott’s to register an encumbrance against the residence, and prepared a will, executed by MB, naming him as executor and leaving him a 75% interest in her estate,” the Law Society said in the court document.

The Law Society said in May, Marriott indicated in an email that he intended to continue acting for MB and refused to provide a full accounting in respect to his role as attorney.

In an April BC Law Society decision, the regulator said Marriott lacked “candour and honesty.”

Marriott, who is in his early 60s, became licensed in 1992, although in that time only practiced law for a few years.

He carried out business under the name North Valley Law and had offices in Vernon, Enderby and Armstrong. His office in Vernon is currently empty with a for sale or lease sign on the door.

A May 2023 court filing said the Canada Revenue Agency has a judgement against Marriott for $175,000.

More recently in February, law firm Sugden McFee & Roos took Marriott to the small claims court, saying he owed them $6,500 as he’d only partially paid a $11,200 legal bill. He didn’t respond and the court issued a default order.

In February, Marriott sued Castanet for defamation following a series of articles they wrote between May 2023 and January 2024. Castanet responded to the suit, denying the allegations.

None of the current BC Law Society allegations have been proven in court.

Neither Leonard Marriott nor North Valley Law office administrator Katherine Bullock was immediately available for comment.